The Coathangers v. Lake Street Dive

I was planning on going over to Terminal West tonight to watch Lake Street Dive, but noticed on the venue's web site today that the performance was sold out.  Tonight, then, I rest - March Madness starts tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here's that new Coathangers video featuring members of Mastodon in drag.  'Nuff said.

Sundays? Sun Days?

Dang!  For a minute there, I thought that my beloved The Sundays had gotten back together.

The Sun Days, another new band from Gothenburg, Sweden, aren't bad at all, and may be the closest we're going to get to that other band in our lifetime.

Stephen McBean

Now, that's what I'm talking about . . . 

Can We Really Party Today?

With all that's going on right now, I've still got this song from last Thursday night rambling around my mind.

Quilt

Quilt perform tonight at 529.  Three bands and doors open at 9:00, which means the first band won't start playing until at least 10:00 pm and don't expect to see Quilt take the stage before midnight.

I don't think I'm going to be able to make it.

Scenes From Eddie's Attic: Robyn Hitchcock, February 22, 2014

Earlier this month, Robyn Hitchcock played a two-night stand at Decatur's Eddie's Attic.  The only problem was those two nights coincided with Snowpocalypse 2014, the two-day ice-and-snow Armageddon that deluged the fair State of Georgia for two days.  Hitchcock's two days. 

Some brave souls (not I) managed to make it to one or, I suppose, both of those shows.  But even though he technically fulfilled his contractual obligation and played both nights, instead of making those unlucky fans who couldn't make it have to refund their tickets, Hitchcock performed a third show, and last Saturday afternoon (2:00 pm) was the time that he was able to squeeze into his busy tour schedule to return to Eddie's Attic.

A thorough entertainer and raconteur, Hitchcock charmed the audience both with his warm and witty songs and with his warm and witty banter as well (almost as entertaining as the songs themselves).  

For his encore, he wandered unamplified through the audience singing "some songs from my record collection," including the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, Dylan's She Belongs To Me, and Bowie's Soul Love from Ziggy Stardust.  And yes, even though I blog about and listen to modern music, I'm still of a certain age that these songs not only raised some goose bumps on my flesh, but also had me singing along under my breath. A charming show, and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.     

Salad Is Not Rock 'n' Roll: A Night at 529

Salad is not rock 'n' roll, but this car definitely is:

Last night's show at 529 featured three strong, female-fronted bands and opened with a set by Atlanta's Sex BBQ, now without former keyboardist/back-up singer Bunny McIntosh.

Their new keyboardist, the guy wearing the caprtain's wheel/mandala or whatever t-shirt above, filled in nicely for McIntosh, providing humorous dance moves and odd percussion to embellish the band's party-friendly, new wave sound.

The next band up was New York's Air Waves.  I'd heard a couple of songs from them before, including Waters (featuring Sharon Van Etten), but was still pleasantly surprised by their set last night - in fact, I think they might have stolen the show.

Like Van Etten, Air Waves singer Nicole Schneit has a certain warm gruffness to her voice, which may have been embellished to some degree last night by the fact that she was just coming back from a head cold - she said she had to cancel her performance the night before as she hadn't even been able to sing.  

They put on a great set, and I look forward to hearing more from Air Waves soon.

Headliners Hospitality took the stage at around 12:15 am.  We've seen Hospitality in this club once before, as well as down the street at The Basement at Graveyard Tavern.  Since the last time we've seen them, Hospitality has released a fine new record, Trouble, and have taken on a slightly more aggressive, harder rocking sound without losing their identity or the distinctive voice or song-writing style of frontwoman Amber Papini.  Hospitality songs still sound like Hospitality songs, only now there's even more to hear.   

The sound mix wasn't as good for Hospitality as it had been for the prior two bands, and I couldn't hear Amber's singing above the band as well as I would have liked.  This might have been due to the fact that I saw standing pretty close to the stage by the bass monitor - the mix might have sounded clearer elsewhere in the club.  Still, it was an enjoyable set, with band members moving frequently from instrument to instrument, Amber alternately playing guitar and keyboards and one guy playing drums, keyboards, and guitar at various points in the set - only the bass player stuck with his one instrument, and no one else touched the bass. 

Kudos to the members of Sex BBQ who stayed around after their set and danced at the front of the audience during Hospitality.

Somewhat non-sequiter and sounding nothing like last night's performance, but here's Amber performing a Hospitality song in a whole different context.  More salad than rock 'n' roll, but still tasty: